The .Plan

In my residency application essay, I wrote about the Jeremiah 29 passage. Tim Keller picks up on it, in a commentary just posted on Christianity Today:

Regarding sex, the alternate city avoids secular society’s idolization of sex and traditional society’s fear of it. It is a community that so loves and cares for its members that chastity makes sense. It teaches its members to conform their bodily beings to the shape of the gospel — abstinence outside of marriage and fidelity within. Regarding money, the Christian counterculture encourages a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak. Regarding power, Christian community is visibly committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the body of Christ. The practical evidence of this will be churches that are increasingly multiethnic, both in the congregations at large and in their leadership.

It will not be enough for Christians to form a culture that runs counter to the values of the broader culture. Christians should be a community radically committed to the good of the city as a whole. We must move out to sacrificially serve the good of the whole human community, especially the poor. Revelation 21-22 makes it clear that the ultimate purpose of redemption is not to escape the material world, but to renew it. God’s purpose is not only saving individuals, but also inaugurating a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife, and selfishness.

So Christians work for the peace, security, justice, and prosperity of their city and their neighbors, loving them in word and in deed, whether they believe what we do or not. In Jeremiah 29:7, Israel’s exiles were called not just to live in the city, but also to love it and work for its shalom — its economic, social, and spiritual flourishing. The citizens of God’s city are the best possible citizens of their earthly cities.
–Tim Keller, “A New Kind of Urban Christian”, Christianity Today, May 2006 [emphasis added]

Link courtesy of AbFab2theMax.

Cape Town is beautiful but the water is frigid. Seattle is beautiful but the water is frigid. Once you get a taste for warm water, you can’t go back.

I’ve already started dreaming of my next vacation:

Although it’s just 40 miles west of Grand Canyon Village, Havasupai is 180 miles away by road, and a greater distance by vibe. There are no shuttle buses, pricey souvenirs or four-star restaurants. You won’t find big crowds either. To get here, you walk, ride a horse or descend by helicopter. The Havasupai Tribe runs a 24-unit lodge in Supai and a 250-person campground that skirts the creek outside the village.

The three main waterfalls and the pools below them are the big attractions, each a stunning oasis in the Arizona desert. Unlike the icy cold Colorado River a few miles away, the waters of Havasu Creek are about 70 degrees most of the year.

…Unlike Havasu and Mooney falls, Navajo is only partly visible from the main trail. After finding the unmarked side trail, crossing the creek on a fallen log and scrambling through some shrubbery, we get our first good look. The water cascades down a wide swath of rock into a pool that proves to be the best swimming hole yet. The water is warmer, perhaps because it’s only about 5 or 6 feet deep, and there are only three other people there when we arrive.

In an instant, we are all in the water and swimming toward the falls. We find a grotto-like area where streams of water shower down from a dozen directions. Nice, but too shady. I swim out beneath the main falls, where the sun warms the water on its downward flight.
–John Corrigan, “In Arizona, it’s 10 miles to cloud 9″, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2006

As Warren told The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper recently, “The New Testament says the church is the body of Christ, but for the last 100 years, the hands and feet have been amputated, and the church has just been a mouth. And mostly, it’s been known for what it’s against. … I’m so tired of Christians being known for what they’re against.”
–Tom Krattenmaker, “A model of faith”, USA Today, June 4, 2006

These past few days… Why is it that my body won’t give me more than 3 consecutive hours of sleep? If I go to sleep at 10, I wake up at 1. If I go to sleep at midnight, I wake up at 3.

Oh baby,
I’m so tired.
–Jane’s Addiction

I have 13 days to fix this before internship starts. Then it’s T Minus 364 Days and counting.